Friday, November 25, 2011

The "Morning After" Sandwich - Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving leftovers are a staple of the American diet in late November- some families may have enough leftover turkey and trimmings to make several days worth of meals out of. "Heat it and Eat it" is always a good option- but two or three meals later, it gets boring, fast. Here I walk through a simple idea for a hearty leftover sandwich. This sandwich is a meal in itself, and is starchy enough to help soak up all that excess alcohol the next morning for those of you who indulged in a little too much wine on the big day...

As with most Thanksgiving leftover preparations, we start with the turkey. I prefer to mix a little white meat and a little dark meat- they both have things about them that are good, so why not use both? Chop a few pieces of turkey into bite sized chunks. Then rough chop a handful of leftover carrots and toss them in as well. Set up your pan (or grill), lubricate it with a light shot of oil, and get it hot. You'll want to heat up your turkey and vegetable in the pan, season it with a small amount of salt and pepper, and let it brown a little.

While your turkey heats up, take a blob of stuffing and drop it on the grill as well. Later on, we'll chop this mass into bits and mix it with our meat, but for now, let it heat up as one mass, and develop a little of that brown crust that adds great flavor. This stuffing is the bulk of the dish, and the "sponge" that makes it able to act as a hangover remedy. My leftover stuffing (well my wife's Aunt's leftover stuffing really) is made with sausage, so it packs a lot of flavor, and a little more meat to go along with the starchy parts.

Once you've gotten everything hot, you'll want something to help it all hold together. When you need something that can act as a sort of "edible glue" - eggs are the way to go. One egg should provide enough cling to loosely hold everything together and make it easier to pile onto a sandwich. Crack one egg over your turkey, then break up your glob of stuffing with a spatula and combine everything together- keep folding it until the egg coats as much of the other food as possible, and is fully cooked.

The last thing to add will help act as a binder as well, and add a little richness too - a little cheese. Take a slice or slab of your favorite cheese (here I use a mozzarella stick marketed as string cheese that I "borrowed" from my kids). Break the cheese up into workable pieces, and lay it on top of your mass of hash. Once it starts to melt, mix it in with the hash until it is incorporated. Let the mass of hash cook a little, so you have a nice crust formed then start thinking about putting your sandwich together.

I put mine together on two slices of toast, slathered with a little mayonnaise for lubrication. You can use whatever your favorite sliced bread or roll is, or even just eat your hash out of a bowl. If you have leftover cranberry sauce- it makes an even better condiment than just plain old mayonnaise. This sandwich is dense, but has all the flavor of a thanksgiving meal. The alcohol absorbing, hangover cure properties of it have earned it the title of the "Morning After" sandwich.

1 comment:

This does look like a great leftover turkey sandwich! We love turkey sandwiches in this house. My husband makes us one with turkey, Dijon, cheese, avocado, and leftover cranberry sauce. Leftover turkey makes awesome sandwiches!